


Changing Seasons

by apirateapoetapawn



Category: Hadestown - Mitchell
Genre: Angry Sex, Drunk Sex, F/M, Resentment, Time Loop - No One But Character Knows They're Stuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-26 09:22:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,348
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20739920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apirateapoetapawn/pseuds/apirateapoetapawn
Summary: Will Hades and Persephone ever be happy? What does it feel like to watch from the sidelines?





	Changing Seasons

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AceQueenKing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceQueenKing/gifts).

“Hope is the promise of spring  
It lies at the end of a railroad line  
The promise of a perfect world  
That things just might work out this time

The curse of spring is transience  
Always waiting for that turn, I guess  
Then winter sets in  
The tragedy repeats again  
And the world holds its breath”

“Aight everyone, the tale has begun. Hermes is here to see it done. Persephone is leaving on the train again, back to the underworld for the winter. Back to Hadestown.”

She steps off into the bright glare of neon. Hades didn’t even come to greet her. He’s busy with his workers who are on the verge of riot again. 

“We want justice!”

“We want rest!”

“We want peace!”

“Don’t I supply the work you do? Don’t I keep you safe and warm? Up above there’s always a storm. The work gives you freedom. The work gives you peace. Save your anger and your curses. This is where you belong. There are worse things than the walls and factories, there’s the pit!”

The shades slink away, cowed, for now.

“Get back to work, there’s a crack in the wall. Keep the world out or let hunger come in.”

Hades sees Persephone lingering by the door and walks over to greet her.

“I thought I heard the whistle blow. You’re early this time. I didn’t have to come to you.”

“I missed you.” Persephone can’t meet his eyes. She saw his change with Orpheus, the first time they had ever danced. Things were different for her now. The anger and resentment still bubbled up, but she knew there was something beneath it. Buried as deep as Hadestown and as hard to access. Not even gods could ignore such feelings in one another. Even if she hated the industry and the horrible architecture of his twisted mind.

He pulls her into an embrace. “Do you now appreciate your gilded cage, my little bird?”

She twists away. “The world is not in harmony, even if you set me free. Up above the people starve, and all you think about is me in your arms.”

“And whose arms you’re in all summer.” His deep voice has a dangerous edge.

“I should have stayed another month, made you have to come search for me. Your jealousy is poison. Good thing I brought my medicine.” She takes a drink.

He dashes the cup from her hand. “Am I so detestable, that you would choose to treat me so? This is my realm, and where _you_ chose to be, I found you walking in the wood, but you’re the one who joined me here.”

“Don’t think I’d do it again.”

Growling, he grabs her by the hair and pulls her hair back, forcing a kiss. She bites his lip and pushes him away. He raises his hand to strike her, then lets it fall by his side. “You won’t last six months. You’ll come to my bed of your own free will. Then we’ll see whose arms you’ll fill.”

“You were tender once, and kind, but you’ve left all that behind. Your heart is one of coal and steel. Your arms are like a hammer mill. Strong but cold they hold no shelter. Our give and take seemed a small price then, an arbor in the summertime and winter in your cursed realm. I’d hoped you’d join me in the light. Live in my world as I have lived in yours.”

“You knew that was not possible from the start. Hadestown and I are one. I have built this place from the nothing I was granted by my brothers. Now it is a powerful kingdom and I am the lord of all of it. Be happy or I will find another songbird to fill my lonely hours."

“That’s what you said last time,” Persephone mutters.

“What did you say?”

“I said search all the gutters. There’s always some hungry young songbird willing to come to your factory, come to your bed.”

“You go too far!”

Persephone crosses the room and pours herself another drink and downs it before he can take it away. “Why did I think things would be different this time? Where is Morpheus when you need him?”

Hades storms back to the factory, closing the door behind him with an angry finality.

Up on top, Hermes watches the clouds roll in. Another storm is brewing. “The hope of spring dies early this year. Looks like winter will be a bad one. The leaves cling to the trees withered and sere. But at least the harvest is good this year, thanks to Persephone’s largesse. A little less hunger but no less despair. A sprig of hope and a frost to strangle it.”

“La la la la la la la…”

Hermes smiles. “That’s my Orpheus. He’s a poor boy, but I like the way he sees the world. When you’ve been around as long as I, hope and love is hard to come by.”

Orpheus approaches. “I think I can get the flowers to bloom again if I can get the song just right.”

“I’m sure you will,” Hermes says. 

“Where’s Persephone?”

“You missed her, son. She’s done and gone. Six months before we see her pretty face again.”

A girl steps off the train. She looks around with wide eyes and pulls her coat closer about her. “It’s so cold already and it’s not even time for autumn.”

Orpheus plucks a tune on his lyre, he doesn’t notice her at first. Then he looks up. He stares at her, dumbstruck.

Hermes knows he's smitten. Sadness clouds his eyes.

“I love you,” the boy says.

“That’s a beautiful song,”the girls says. “I’m Eurydice.”

“Will you marry me, Eurydice?” he asks.

“Will you shelter me this winter?”

“Forever.”

She turns to Hermes. “Is he always like this?”

“Yes.”

“Do you believe your own song?” the girl asks Orpheus. “Can the world ever be the way you see it?” 

“The world can be whatever we want it to be.” His eyes take on a faraway look.

Hermes sighs. “Another trial, another test. The poet with his lyre, the girl with her pale cheeks and hope burning in her chest. She hasn’t allowed trust in for a very long time. But the song draws her, his melodic voice and the power of love.

And so it begins anew. The poor girl and the boy with the fickle muse. It’s hard to watch it all again, to repeat what’s come before. But even the gods can’t change the cycles of life and death. We can only warn and fret. Even the gods cling to hope, when all turns to regret.”

“Easy to say,” the girl says in reply to Orpheus.

“I’ll always be there for you. You will be my muse,” he promises.

“You know what? I believe you.” Trust fills her eyes and she takes his hand. They walk away, the Fates wandering along casually behind.

“See you soon, Hermes,” one of them says. They all laugh.

“It’s not their fault.” Hermes shakes his head. “They have their work and I have mine. I got to see the trains run on time. Be wise my children, be wise. All aboard!”

Down in Hadestown, the king comes home to find a party going on. Persephone is drunk again.

“All hail our Lady of the Underground!” the workers shout. Persephone tries to curtsey and almost falls over.

Hades growls and the shades all lower their heads and scatter.

“Is this how you pass the time when I’m doing everything I can to make this place good for you? I turn my back and you mock me with your spite. I sometimes think you live to start a fight.” 

“I only drink to make this garish nightmare of a town look better. I have a suitcase full of good times I keep packed for when I’m livin’ it up on top.”

“Oh, I know where you do your living, and with who!”

“It’s a sad song, it’s a tragedy. You’re gonna sing it anyway,” she says mockingly.

Hades’ eyes burn into hers for a long moment. Persephone grabs his neck and kisses him with forceful anger. He can feel her passion for him burning through her hatred. He responds in kind, forcing his hips against her thigh so she can feel his hardness and heat. They begin tearing at each other’s clothes and she wraps her hand around his tie and drags him to the bedroom.

Persephone throws him on the bed and jerks his hands up over his head. He starts to resist and she puts her face close to his, warning him with her eyes. His eyes widen in shock, giving her the time she needs to tie him to the headboard. She pulls her dress over her head, letting him drink in the sight of her while helpless to do anything about it. His fingers flex hungrily, he can’t tear his eyes away. Roots start to grow up from the ground, creeping up the bed and over Hades’ helpless body, pinning him from the chest down. A thick stem slithers around his neck and tightens.

She straddles him and brings her hips down onto his arching heat. Hades gives a strangled cry. He struggles for a moment, then surrenders. Persephone rides him long and hard, giving a cry of her own as she comes. Hades is still struggling against his restraints as she rises, leaving him trapped and unfulfilled. As she leaves the room, the roots release their grip and sink back into the earth. Hades works his binds loose. He sits on the edge of the bed, his hands balled into fists of frustration. 

“This is not over!” he whispers dangerously.

Far above, in the gloom of winter, the endless cold and rain is wearing Eurydice down. She’s sick and Orpheus is still working on his song. The Fates are whispering in her ear.

“Orpheus, where are you?” she calls.

A woman approaches from the direction of the train station.

“Where is Orpheus?” she asks.

“I don’t know. I can’t find him. It’s dark and cold, we have no food or wood for the fire. He promised to always been there for me and I trusted him. I should never have trusted him.”

The woman wipes Erydice’s tears away and the whispering voices in her mind fade. Eurydice sees a beautiful meadow full of flowers in her mind’s eye. She falls into a faint on the hard, cold ground and the mysterious woman drifts away.

Down in Hadestown, Persephone is lying on the couch passed out when Hades returns from the wall. A whole section of the wall has fallen. Tomorrow he will call overtime and everyone will work and sweat to rebuild it. He won’t have this kind of insubordination in his kingdom.

When he comes in and sees her, his heart seethes with rage. He wants to strangle her, send her back to her mother in a shroud. His hand reaches for her throat when he hears a distant song. As he hearkens to it, his murderous rage diminishes and he finds himself tracing the shape of her face in the air with the fingers that, a moment ago, were ready to choke her. As he watches her sleep, he feels the familiar tenderness that made him fall in love with her at the beginning. Didn’t he love her for her springlike beauty, for the purity of her very being? Had he corrupted the very thing in her he sought from her in the first place, the solace of peaceful rivers and green hills? The song told him it was not too late. His heart clenched as he realized he believed it.

Persephone opens her eyes. They burn with fear and spite when she sees him standing over her.

“May I have this dance?” he says softly. His eyes glisten with an expression she hasn’t seen since they eloped upon the verdant fields above, hope.

She takes his hand and rises and they begin to dance to the distant song, holding each other close. The storms above dissipate and Helios smiles upon the earth again.

Orpheus searches for Eurydice and finds her lying in the barren field, she has a fever. He carries her home and puts her to bed then builds a fire. Gathering her in his arms, he begins to sing. Her fever breaks and she wakes and smiles at him before falling asleep again.

Down at the railroad station, Hermes greets the mysterious woman. “Good to see you, glad you came. The summer’s gone, it’s wintertime. But I knew if anyone could break the cycle and put things right it would be you.”

“How could I refuse to see it done, when all this has gone on so long? I didn’t mean for things to go so far, but you know how we Muses are.”

“I do, indeed, Calliope. The seasons have been out of joint. The world has been on the edge for so long we all thought it could never end. I hoped your presence might give it the nudge it needed to come back into tune.”

“All I can do is inspire, Orpheus is the one with the vision and the heart to make it happen. It’s time gods and men put aside their egos and work together. So afraid of what they’d lose they didn’t realize it was already gone.”

“Will they get it back?”

“Only time will show us that, Hermes. If I had to guess… Well, you know as well as I.”

Hermes nods. He helps Calliope step up onto the train. “Until next time.”

“Until next time,” she replies.

“The curse of life is transience  
It blooms and withers like a flower  
But when it blooms in love and trust  
It holds a god-like power

And so we come to the end of the line  
There's been a break, but its test is time  
To those who see  
How the world can be  
We raise our cups. Goodnight.”


End file.
